


On the Topic of Shire Dragons

by Yummy_Yume



Series: The Way to a Dragon’s Heart is through his stomach [1]
Category: How to Train Your Dragon (Movies), The Hobbit - All Media Types, The Lord of the Rings - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Fusion, Don't copy to another site, Dragonriders of pern fusion, Dragons, Gen, Good Hobbit Sense, I've had far too much fun with this, no beta we post like illiterates
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-05
Updated: 2020-05-05
Packaged: 2021-03-03 03:15:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,922
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24028009
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Yummy_Yume/pseuds/Yummy_Yume
Summary: Hobbits don’t really like outsiders and the Shire’s borders are closed to pretty much everyone. The rest of Arda is far too busy chasing dragons to wonder why.
Series: The Way to a Dragon’s Heart is through his stomach [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1733311
Comments: 7
Kudos: 54





	On the Topic of Shire Dragons

**Author's Note:**

> Despite ISeeFire and Mariabella Baggins' delightful contributions, we still don't have enough middle-earthen dragonriders. 
> 
> First, I apologize for any spelling or grammar errors, English is not my first language.
> 
> Second, I'm pretty excited about this new plot bunny and I have BIG plans. I hope you all like it as much as I do!
> 
> Third, I want to thank the [lotrproject](http://lotrproject.com/map) without which I would probably still wondering where I was going with this plunny. 
> 
> Enjoy!

The Shire was a pretty peaceful place and the Hobbits even more so. Of course, not a lot of people knew that. All the kingdoms in Arda had to fight dragons in order to live in peace and such a small, pacifist people who didn’t even have an army had really no chance to survive for long against such foes. Everyone seems to conveniently forget that the Shire has been standing for as long as the other kingdoms. 

Now, it is true that the Shire had had a rough history with dragons and for a time, it had seemed as if the Hobbits, as a people, were not going to survive.

And then, Bullroarer Took, the tallest Hobbit in the history of the Shire, took up a wooden club to protect his fauntlings from a Monstrous Nightmare and roared so loud that it cowed the dragon into submission. He was ready to knock the beast’s head clean off and sent it sailing a hundred yards through the air and down a rabbit-hole, when he realised that the dragon looked a bit small and quite malnourished.

Now, no matter how unwanted a guest might be, a Hobbit would never let them go hungry. And even if the guest was a dragon – not that anyone thought as dragons as _guest_ before – Bullroarer Took could not let the smallish dragon leave hungry.

And so, Bullroarer Took feed the Monstrous Nightmare fish and the dragon became his life companion.

(In another life, it would have been a goblin and Bullroarer Took would have invented the game of Golf. This is not this life.)

Of course, the transition from enemies to friends didn’t happen in a day, but Hobbits were very sensible beings and if feeding the dragons fish would prevent them from stealing their livestock and burning down their crops and homes, then they were going to feed said-dragons.

It worked surprisingly well.

Soon, every family was favouring a certain breed. The Tooks, following Bullroarer’s example, started looking over the Monstrous Nightmare and Deadly Nadder’s populations. The Brandybucks preferred the Typhoomerangs and Timberjacks because both species were forest-dwelling and an immensurable help to keep the Old Forest from getting out of hand. The Baggins, always respectable, favoured the Crimson Goregutters for their gentle nature and their loyalty for those their considered family and friends. No one commented on their very deadly capacities, it wouldn't have been proper. The Proudfoots quite liked the Changewings. The Bracegirdles developed a fondness for the Stormcutters. And so on and so forth.

Everyone also ended up with a small pack of Terrible Terrors in their backyard, never really sure how that happened, but unwilling to chase them off. They were small enough that they didn’t get in the way and could generally be found following the fauntlings around anyway, allowing the parents to not worry about where they wayward children may have disappear to. 

The fauntlings, of course, _adored_ the dragons.

Now that the Hobbits had found a new way to deal with the dragons, they were eager to share it with their neighbours. Isumbras III, the Thain and Bullroarer’s father, went to meet with the Rangers. They had defended the Shire since the fall of the Kingdom of Arnor and between dragons, orcs, goblins and wargs, the Hobbits were sure they could use a break.

No one knew what happened during the meeting, but the Thain came back in the worst mood ever recorded and refused to ever try again to talk to their neighbours. Two days later, little Layla Took, one of the Thain’s many grandchildren, came home sobbing and cradling the small, still body of her Terrible Terror Cupcake. A man had killed it thinking he was protecting a child. They weren’t sure if it was a Ranger, but it didn’t matter.

The very next day, the Shire closed its borders.

.

Closing the Shire's borders took more manoeuvring than simply saying that they weren’t accepting visitors anymore.

The heads of families and a lot more busy-bodies who couldn’t seem able to stay away gathered in the living-room of Tuckborough’s Great Smials to hold a meeting.

“When we Hobbits crossed the Brandywine River and established ourselves in what we now call the Shire, we did it with the blessing of the King of Arnor,” The Thain started, presiding over the Hobbits. “We swore nominal allegiance to him and all the Kings to come. In exchange, we were required to acknowledge their lordship, speed their messengers, and keep the bridges and roads in repair. We have done that and more, but can we close the borders without repercussions, you think?”

The hobbits murmured among themselves, no one quite sure _how_ they could answer the Thain for they were simple Hobbits and not the Thain themselves.

“But there’s no King anymore! That’s why we elected a Thain!” Mosco Underhill exclaimed, standing up. He was younger than most and still had the youthful conviction that nothing could really touched him.

He wasn’t wrong, though.

“But aren’t the Rangers his descendants?” Clover Stumbletoe asked without raising her voice. “That’s why they’re protecting our borders. They’re still upholding their part of the treaty. Like we do. The roads and bridges are in perfect condition and I don’t know about messengers, but the Rangers are always offered foods and drinks when they cross our borders.”

The others all muttered in agreement.

“Well,” Gifemund Cotton said gruffly around his pipe. “Well, the King never said that we couldn’t close the borders of the Shire to any non-Hobbits, did he?”

The official document was checked and when nothing indicated the contrary, the topic moved on to what they ought to do to ensure that no more companions would be lost. Pour little Layla Took was quite traumatised and refused to leave her room to the great worry of her family.

In the end, it was decided that fences would be erected all around the Shire. Very tall wooden fences that wouldn’t allow the Big Folk to even see over them. Stone may have been a better material to use, but no Hobbits was quite sure how to work the stone in such a way. But wood they could do. Of course, wood wouldn’t be able to withstand against anything dreadful like an invasion, but the point wasn’t to withstand against an invasion.

Next, they needed to redirect the Great East Road which stretch from the Grey Havens to Rivendell and crossed through the Shire. Absent King of Arnor or not, Hobbits weren’t going to be the ones to break their words. It was thus decided that the Great East Road would be extended all the way around the Northfarthing part of the Shire. It would mean a few more days of travel for the elves who sometimes made their pilgrimage to the Grey Havens or the caravans of dwarves who would journey between the Blue Mountains and the Iron Hills. But elves and dwarves seemed to like adventuring so they would probably be fine.

Since the Great East Road had originally been built by the dwarves and was paved with sizeable square stones, a group of young Took lads were tasked with unearthing one and leaving for the Blue Mountains in order to command a large shipment. The Hobbits were determined to do it right.

For the fences, everyone who could be spare worked on them. The wooden wall would go all around the Shire, from east to south to west to north and back to east. The Hobbits were also careful to build it exactly on the border of the Shire so as not to be accused of land stealing.

It took months for the project to be even halfway done. And no matter how monumental the task could seem at times, Hobbits were hard-workers and could be just as stubborn as any other races.

The road could have seemed like the hardest project but pretending that they were planting seeds instead of square stones in the upturned earth did the trick and so both projects advanced at a good pace. Teams of workers were rotated so the Hobbits could rest and of course, the dragons helped with the heavy lifting while tweens and fauntlings kept watch.

.

When winter was almost on their doorstep and both the road and the wall were about to be completed, the Hobbits realised that feeding all their dragons during the winter months was going to be a bit challenging.

While the dragons’ diet consisted mostly of fish, Hobbits had quickly found out that their new companions enjoyed any kind of food. Fish and meat were their favourite, of course, but it wasn’t rare for a dragon to swipe a loaf of bread or accept a piece of tart, or even for fauntlings to share berries and other fruits with the nearest dragons.

Unfortunately, the Hobbits needed their food supplies for the winter, and they couldn’t take the risk to overfish in their various bodies of water or the fish populations would never recover. They were already fishing far more than they ever did.

It was Heather Maggot who came with the idea to fly to the sea and fish there. The Grey Havens weren’t that far from a bird-eye’s view. Or maybe they could follow the Brandywine river south and see where it led them, because they didn’t want to risk the elves’ reaction at seeing dragons out and about.

And so, the Hobbits became dragonriders.

The whole ordeal took some trials and errors. They needed saddles, harnesses and bridles, but also a way to transport back the literal loads of fish. Then, they needed to determine which hour of the day was the best for both flying and fishing, how high they could flight, what was appropriate flying attire, etc.

In the end, it really took the whole winter before the Hobbits could confidently say they knew what to do and, more importantly, what _not_ to do.

But it was worth it. The dragons were warm and fed and the Hobbits were too.

.

When the first flowers of spring bloomed in the Shire, a contingent of elves stops at the newly installed eastern gate and looked around with bewilderment.

“Is… there a problem, Master Hobbit?” the apparent leader asked to the bounder standing on the parapet high over their heads.

“Not at all, Master elf. It’s just that the Shire does not accept visitor anymore.”

“What do you mean it does not accept visitors anymore?”

“It’s just as I said, Master elf. The Shire closed its borders and it does not accept visitors anymore.” – the bounder pointed to their right – “You can continue to follow the road, good sir. We diverted the Great East Road all the way around. Good day!”

And then he disappeared once more behind the wooden wall. Baffled, the elves moved on and followed the road.

Unbeknownst to them, the bounder, Taryn Brandybuck, was trying to keep his two Terrible Terrors Ash and Bloom from flying away after the elves.

Then, he went to report to his Shirriff.

The next day, half the tweens of the Shire started bounder training. The Thain and the Shirriffs meet up to arrange new bounder teams and a rotation system.

The months flew by and slowly it was as if dragons had always been part of the Hobbits’ lives.

.

“Bandoras Took! What is the meaning of this!” a deep voice thundered out from the end of the lane.

Oh dear. In all their excitement, they had forgotten about Gandalf.

**Author's Note:**

> Come find me at [YummyYume](https://yummyyume.tumblr.com/)


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